The 5 Second Rule: How to Keep Viewers Watching Your Video
In a perfect world, the very second a visitor lays their eyes on your video, they’re hooked. Unfortunately, it is extremely rare for things to be quite that simple. Realistically, you have five seconds to hook a visitor into your video before they decide to exit.
Your video and the value it contains are only useful to you if visitors are actually staying on the site and viewing it. Intriguing content, readability-centered design, and a smooth user experience are just a few ways to coax visitors into staying on your video.
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Potential customers regularly choosing not to stay on your site isn’t only bad for your pockets. A bounce rate (the rate at which viewers arrive at your video and then leave without navigating your site) with less than impressive numbers is dangerous for your SEO rankings.
Google periodically updates their algorithm, and if they make bounce rates more prevalent in the ranking system, then people leaving your video without navigating will push you back on search engine results pages.
Obviously, this is not ideal because as you fall further back in the rankings, fewer people will become aware of your video. As you can see, it is essential to keep visitors on your video to prevent your bounce rate from drastically impacting your SEO.
Making sure your video passes the five-second rule is serious both for your reputation and for your bottom line. This article will discuss a few tips and tricks that will get your video ready to pass the five-second barrier.
Watch Your Call to Action (CTA)
Most website owners already understand the importance of a call to action and make sure to have it somewhere on their site. The problem is, having a CTA placed just anywhere is immensely less valuable than one may think.
CTA’s can be placed at the beginning and end of your video. It should automatically appear in every viewer’s plain view.
Ask Yourself 4 Questions to Keep Visitors Watching
When testing a video for the five-second rule, it only makes sense to have something to score the video by. When striving to keep visitors on your video, it is essential to review your video. For most producers, there are four general questions that set the standard for a thriving video campaign:
What Is it About?
From a viewer’s standpoint, can you immediately understand what the video or subject is about? In the first five seconds (or shorter, since you have a few more questions to ask), is it possible to deduce what the point of this video is?
Do I Care, and Why?
What can the viewer see in the first five seconds that intrigues or resonates with them? Is something in the video directly speaking to the customer? What exactly is this site trying to make me care about, and why?
How Do I Sign Up?
If selling a product or service, who do I contact to begin? When does the payment process start? What is the first step I should take in order to purchase or participate in this offer? If you’re on the fence about spending money but still easily swayed one way or another, finding the sign-up form easily could be the deciding factor in a purchase.
Is This Newsworthy Or Compelling?
Who else would find this entertaining or valuable? Is there anything that makes me want to share this with others? Pick a goal for your video, and stick to it. The clearer and clearer your message is, the more viewers will find themselves watching.
Triple Check Your User Experience
A slow-loading video is an instant attraction killer. If you want to keep people on your video, user experience is vital. In a world that contains people with famously short attention spans and a surplus of entertainment, no one will voluntarily wait for a glitchy video to work itself out.
Make sure your player or website loads and processes properly on laptop, mobile, and tablet browsers. To be extra assured, test out different browsers on each device. There are an extraordinary number of options out there, and you have no idea which one your future customer will be using.
Foundation Digital Media’s Goal is to Keep Visitors On Your Video
Foundation Digital Media is a full-scale digital media company with experts ready to assist you from your first phone call. Find out how we can provide you with world-class video production service in DC or Maryland today.
